


Stories of the Second Self: From On High

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [72]
Category: Police - Fandom, Urban Fantasy - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:28:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22566310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: Officer Daniel Yi, after manifesting angelic traits and grounded by the FAA, is transferred to street patrol. Partnered with a seasoned werewolf cop, Senior Patrolman Cole Chaney, Daniel learns the difference between enforcement by the book and being a peace officer.
Series: Alter Idem [72]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: From On High

"Alright," Officer Chaney Started off, while driving the patrol car through a street on Norwood, Cincinnati, "Here's some ground rules."

"Ground rules?" Daniel Yi asked, giving Chaney a critical eye. "Is that a grounded pilot joke?"

"What?" Chaney blurted out, and then it hit him. "Oh shit, I'm sorry. Totally forgot. I guess not all us supernaturals got the same raw deal you did."

Daniel looked at the close shave Chaney had on the back and sides of his neck. That was the only way anyone would know the more seasoned patrolman was a werewolf, other than of course, Chaney busting out the claws, teeth, and all else over the course of two minutes.

Hiding his own state wasn't so easy, Daniel rued, and shifted one of his wings into a less uncomfortable position in the passenger seat. Sure, the feathers bent light around his wings, but when they moved people could more or less pick up the general outline. It was worse when light hit them just right, giving that whole halo thing that became redefined when a few people turned into real angels.

"Lemme rephrase," Chaney raised the fingers of one hand on the steering wheel. "Some basics to go by. Lotta guys new to the beat wanna stop every sketchy person they see or jump into it at the first sign of a distressed citizen. They're like human dobermans- er, well, figuratively speaking. You understand. You've been in the department for a while now, so I figure you're not hot-headed like that, but you haven't worked street level. Yeah, we're gonna see some questionable shit go on out here, but what's really happening isn't at the surface."

"How so?" Daniel asked, gazing out the side window at all the normal people they passed by.

"So, I'm over at Mapleleaf Avenue, right," Chaney recounted, "And there's this kid, 'bout fifteen years old, standin' in front of an apartment building. You know the look, not sayin' anything, but very interested in all the other people out and about."

"Pusher," Daniel concluded.

"Yeah," Chaney affirmed, "That's what I was thinkin' too. I pull over and role down the right side window. Ask him what's happening? Ehh, he's lookin' left, lookin' right, anywhere but at me. He says, 'Nothin' sir, just out enjoying the air.'"

"Jesus," Daniel hissed at the obvious dodging, "Stupid."

"I ask him if he's sure, and he tosses a couple more evasive answers," Chaney waves his hand side to side while telling the story, "Then I ask him what's really going on. Why's he out at two in the morning. Then I hear it. Some woman scream, obscenities, and some guy shouts back. I figure it's his folks arguing. Kid looks up, and then hangs his head, so guessed right. Then it's a real scream, like the guy's startin' to hit her."

"I bolt out of the car," Chaney pauses as he slows for a red light. "An' the kid's right on my heels as I pound shoe up the flights of stairs in the building. Didn't take long to figure out which apartment. I step up and knock, and the incident stops. Guy comes to the door, surprised as shit I'm there. The kid right away starts tellin' his dad that he didn't flag me down."

"Yeah, I get it, you thought the kid was a dealer, and instead you came onto a domestic violence incident," Daniel surmised, hastening the cop lesson along.

"That's the thing I'm tellin' ya," Chaney stopped Daniel there. "It was both, but here's the part that'll surprise you. Turns out, the mother was making the kid go out and deal. His parents had divorced, and when the dad comes around to get custody he finds all this out and losses his cool. I bring the whole bunch in. Kid goes to Child Protective Services, both parents go to lock-up. The dad gets probation for domestic abuse, and the mom lands in state penitentiary on a ten-year stretch for possess and distribution, plus more time for contributing to delinquency."

"Still don't see how this was mis-call," Daniel said.

"Kid's a ward of the state now, Yi," Chaney explained, "Had I taken a moment and thought out a plan, I coulda just talked to the parents and convince them this life isn't for the boy. Maybe convince the mom to give it up, and honestly, my first response would've been like the father. I could've had them make a deal with each other and warn them not to make me come around and check up on the family. But, I was barely in uniform for a year and a half, and got all by-the-book on their asses. Screwed up the whole family."

"At least you didn't wolf out on them," Daniel suggested.

"Ahh!" Chaney waved that off. "This was before all the weird shit. I was as human as anybody back then. Then, having racked up eleven years on the force, this howler thing lands in my lap, and I just gotta eat it."

"Whoa," Daniel leaned forward when something caught his eye. "What's this?"

"Yeah, okay," Chaney said, noticing the people running. "This is where we make snap judgments. Alright, let's do this."

Chaney drove the patrol car off the road, across the sidewalk, and onto the green of Lindner Park. Daniel saw several people run into the wooded area, which is where Chaney stopped the car.

"It's game time, Yi," Chaney said, as he and Daniel both got out and closed the doors.

The pair trotted over, but not needing to hold things still on their utility belts. Daniel's wings caught the air, and he again resisted the urge to start flapping them, not that he figured he'd take off or anything.

Far enough into the woods that Daniel lost sight of the car, he stumbled across the cluster of people around a redhead girl in a very Grecian get-up, as in ancient Greece. But she also sported a pair of wings swept up and stiff. The gossamer white feathers were everything you'd expect of a biblical depiction, and right away it didn't pass the smell test to Daniel.

"Alright, everybody," Chaney spoke up with his right hand clutched to his belt. "Who wants to tell us what's goin' on here?"

"It's nothing, officer," said the woman with the wings, still holding her arms up as if to ward off an attack. "I'm fine."

"No, seriously," Daniel said, catching a look from Chaney, before continuing. "If there's a problem you need to tell us."

"Really, I was just doing a dress rehearsal," When the woman spoke and turned to look at Chaney and Daniel the wings didn't move an inch.

Daniel knew they were fake already, though from the looks of the other citizens they appeared worked up over them. "We saw several people running in here, and it looked like an emergency."

"We thought she might be hurt," one man sounded desperate to dismiss the situation.

Chaney seemed to catch more, and turned to ask the others. "Is that why you all came in here with sticks and other objects in your hands?"

"She's mocking our beliefs," some middle-aged woman griped with an accusing finger right at the girl.

Chaney gave Daniel a subtle nod, so he decided to press them on the matter. "Mocking? How's that justify coming at her like this, improvised clubs in hand?"

"I'm sorry I lied before," the first man who spoke up clarified, "Just that these angels could be fallen, and sent to lead us astray. We know it's the end times...."

"She's not an angel," Daniel curtly explained.

"Not sent by God, you mean," the man started to reinterpret what hadn't yet been said.

"No, I mean she's human," Daniel stated, and took a second careful look, to be sure he hadn't missed something else hinting at a different supernatural. "And even if she weren't this could be construed not only as assault, but a hate crime as well."

A couple of the people seemed to finally notice Daniel's own wings when he shifted in stance, but the spokesman apparent for the mob challenged him on it. "Yes, we wrongly thought she was an angel, but she shouldn't be wearing fake wings. How could you know at a glance?"

"'Cause I'm sure," Daniel firmly asserted placing his hands on his hips.

He didn't intend for it, but the movement finally made his wings move enough for the guy to catch on. Right away, the man's face reddened and Daniel felt his hand go to his sidearm pistol grip. "Sir, you need to remain calm."

Chaney had subtly stepped around to the back of the man, ready to pounce if need be. However, the guy and others around him seemed to loosen up enough not to give Daniel cause to escalate his and Chaney's response.

"Just don't come around here...," the man started to scold, when he turned to find Chaney between his group and the girl. "Anyway, God will not be mocked, young lady."

"I need all of you to disperse," Chaney called loud enough for the hard edge to register. "People are different, and you're going to respect that. Get moving."

Once they were far enough that Daniel thought it safe to let his badge face down, he parodied out loud, "'Good will not be mocked.' Have him come down here and say so, otherwise shut up."

"Sir," the girl said, standing up at last. "I'm sorry about this...."

Chaney deliberately stepped back with his arms folded, clearly waiting for Daniel to react.

"It's not your fault," Daniel said, though noticing her gaping at his wings.

She reached out and hesitated while looking to his face. "May I?"

"I'd rather you didn't, but I suppose," Daniel conceded.

"Wow, it doesn't feel like whatever feathers are made of," she remarked while her hand stroked with more affection than he liked.

Pulling the wing back, as her touch grew too intimate, Daniel remarked, "So what's the play you're doing?"

"What?" she was surprised by his asking.

"You said dress rehearsal," Daniel reminded.

"It's not true," she admitted with her gaze dropping. "It's just... I so wished it had happened to me."

"Uh, no you don't," Daniel counted with irritation. "It's not like there's a law against cosplaying, but remember what you're doing could be seen as ethnic appropriation now. Plus, there's the other side of that."

Daniel had waved at the direction the mob had left. When the girl started walking that way, he held out a hand and pointed in a different direction, thinking to prevent the outrage from boiling up again.

After she was gone, Chaney came around front. "See, you're catchin' on."

"So goddamn tired of the halo fetish," Daniel griped.

"Not a believer, huh?" Chaney surmised.

"How can you be so sure?" Daniel asked, though knew that Chaney was right.

"It's the howler thing," Chaney said, and then thought about it. "Well, a lot of it is that, but really, I could tell from the look on your face when that guy whirled on the girl about mocking God."

"Me, an atheist, and I gotta be the one who turns into a fuckin' angel," Daniel seethed.

"Only way it could be worse is if you're afraid of heights," Chaney cracked.

"I am afraid of heights," Daniel confessed, though Chaney's smirk hinted he knew that already too.

"Would it help if I invited you to my Episcopalian church?" Chaney offered.

"What?" Daniel started to come back with. "They gonna faith-heal my fear of heights away?"

"We're not like that," Chaney replied with an admonishing hint. "In fact we're a more laid back kind of church. There're people who are openly gay there, and we don't judge them for it."

"Must sound silly, a pilot afraid of heights," Daniel said.

"It makes sense in a way," Chaney offered, "Standing on a ledge and any old gust of wind can screw up your day, but inside the machine you're in total control. Can you fly with those?"

"Don't know," Daniel answered, and shook his head. "Haven't tried. I really don't want to either. And I just assume not hear that, 'God doesn't give you more than you can bear' shit."

"I wasn't going to do that either," Chaney said and searched his shoes. "This really bothers you."

"That's it," Daniel made up his mind right there. "I'm getting these removed. I'm sure some hospital will figure out a procedure, and when they do these fuckin' things are history."

"You really will be a fallen angel," Chaney suggested, and added after a pause, "Though, you'll always still be an angel. The vision, musculature, I hear you guys even have a keel bone like a bird. All that stuff won't go away so easily."

"So long as no one can see it, I don't care," Daniel said, staring off while reflecting on the incident. "I don't know which reaction is worse."

"The one that breaks bones," Chaney was swift with the comeback. "Ask me how I know."


End file.
